Catch&Release

Releasing the fish we catch is getting more necessary every day if we want to continue fishing in the future. This is the main contribution a fly fisher can do for the conservation of the environment. Carlos Heinsohn provides a logo, which can be used to promote C&R.

Releasing the fish we catch is getting more necessary every day if we want to continue fishing in the future. This is the main contribution a fly fisher can do for the conservation of the environment. If we participate actively in the conservation of the ecosystems where we fish, and we also return fish to the water, we will be doing a lot for the future of those habitats. As we can see from the last few years, fishermen, especially fly fishers, are evolving as better human beings, better inhabitants of the planet, and better fishermen.

Releasing the fish we catch is something that marks a completely different perspective for our sport. The practice of the philosophy of "Catch and Release" has become the standard of this new kind of integral fishermen compromised with the environment.

We have seen some images showing the "Catch and Release" idea, and many times we would like to use one of them in our fishing vests, on our car’s bumper, in a printed publication, on our website, or in the packing of some product, but most of them are from promotional campaigns or an institutional image of some organization that support conservation; or simply we don’t know who the owner is or who has the copyright.

Martin Joergensen - Henning Eskol - Carlos Heinsohn

Ideas about a Catch and Release logo had been running around my head for some time, but I hadn’t developed them because I did not know what to do with them. Two months ago, when I was writing a text about the fishermen’s commitment to the environment and I got deeper into the topic, I could see that "Catch and Release" was more than a campaign. It is a whole philosophy and a new way to be an angler. It is something that belongs all of us: That was the motivation I needed to bring the idea to life.

Although I am not a graphic designer and I can barely handle the basic edition tools of some graphic software, I was able to express what I had in mind in images and colors. I designed a simple logo.

This logo can be used by any person for the promotion of the "Catch and Release" philosophy. You can use it any way you want to: Printed, on websites, on documents, stickers, embroidered or printed on fabrics, or in any other material or virtual media. It can be used on websites, in publications and even on the packaging of products for sale, if the original design elements are preserved and the further spreading and its free use by anyone else is not restricted in any way.

The Logo

The logo is based on the idea of the universal recycling image, and it is a fish that leaves the water and returns to it.

It has a slightly oval shape that gives some dynamic to the enclosed images and is limited by a clearly defined black line in order to be easily understood by the person that is going to use it on any media.

The image has two main parts. A blue one in the lower section that represents water, and a white one in the upper sector that represents air, separated by a black line integrated to the external edge. The colors are solid to give it simplicity.

The fish is illustrated in a two step sequence. In the first step it is captured and pulled out of the water, and in the second step the fish returns to the water. In both steps, when the fish is in the water, its natural shape is clearly outlined, because the place where it should be is in the water. Out of the water, also in both stages, the image of the fish becomes an arrow, a strong and abstract form that shows that the fish must return quickly to the water. In both stages, caught and released, the fish is green, because that color is directly identified with conservationism and ecology.

The word "catch" is placed over the image of the fish pulled out of the water, in the part the fish has turned into an arrow. We are emphasizing that a fish outside the water is just the first step of “catch and release”, not a food source. The word "release" is located over the image of the fish returning to the water in the part the arrow turns again into a fish with its explicit shape. The white text over the green fish which returns to the blue water makes the word "release" a lot more clear than the word "capture", a way to reinforce the idea about the real value of a fish living free in its world.

The "&" symbol is a main part of the logo and the slogan. It is widely known in all western languages, and its only presence in an image with fish is a sign that represents "Catch and Release" for most of us. It is placed in the middle of the logo giving a center to the image and to the idea, since it is the required link between the two actions enclosed in the "Catch and Release" principle.

The Technical part - RGB

The original colors of the logo are the ones we have seen on the above pictures, fluorescent green, deep blue, white and black.

These colors are achieved on the RGB color composition system (Red, Green and Blue). This system is the one that is used on TV and computer screens, since each unit of image (pixel) is composed of three sub pixels; one red, one green and one blue, each one of which emits diverse intensities of light. The difference in the intensity of light in these three colors is what makes each pixel seen as a different color, in a total range of 216 colors.

The images of the logo in RGB can be used to be seen on screen with the same original colors:

In the RGB range of colors, the image of the logo can be used for any of the following purposes:

- For a website or any digital document that is going to be seen on a screen.
- On embroidery for clothing or caps, since just 4 colors of thread are needed to sew the design.
- To Print with special (Pantone) inks over paper or any another substrate. A closer look at the specific RGB colors can be matched on hexacromic printing too (two additional colors, green and orange, on a polychromic – conventional - printing)

In the following links you can download the logo - in English and Spanish - on RGB color range. These files come in high resolution PDF (Portable Document Format) so they can be used in any size. A graphic designer, or anyone who deals with graphic edition software, will be able to modify their size and resolution for any purpose.

The Technical part - CMYK

Things are quite different for printing. If the logo is going to be used for decals or printed on paper or any other substrate, there are some technology restrictions that impose the use of colors other than the original ones.

Printed over a material media, colors perform contrary to what they do on a screen. While on a screen color is given by small dots that emit light, on print the color is given by small points that absorb light of a specific color. A color print is achieved by microscopic dots of cyan, magenta, yellow and black (CMYK) that act as filters that absorb the opposite color (Cyan, Magenta and Yellow are the opposite of Red, Green and Blue – RGB system - ) and thus the visual effect is the same as we get when we see a magazine or a poster. A little complex, but this is the shortest explanation.

All printing systems, no matter that they are conventional or digital, are based on this theory. Polychromic printing (CMYK) allows us to match the whole range of natural colors, but other color choices, such as fluorescent or metallic ones, are not possible to obtain with normal four color printing (CMYK).

If the logo is going to be used for printing on paper or any another material substrate, it will be seen as follows:

If you want the logo for print, you can download the images of the logo in CMYK – in English and Spanish - in the following links. They come also in high resolution PDF files for use in a variety of sizes. Just like the previous logos, a graphic designer or anyone who works with graphic edition software will be able to modify their size and resolution.

Copyright and terms of use

The copyright of this logo belongs to me as the creator of the design; however with the only publication of this article I expressly authorize any person to utilize them, free of any charge, for promoting the principles or the practice of "Catch and Release".

This logo can be reproduced by any material or electronic media for the purposes the authorized person estimates useful, whenever it will not be utilized to denigrate sport fishing or degrade the philosophy of the practice of "Catch and Release". Its use is not limited to nonprofit activities, therefore users will be able to use it for commercial or promotional purposes, for example, for the elaboration of decals or tee-shirts for sale, or for its inclusion in a fishing product image related to "Catch and Release”.

The users commit to conserve the exact colors and all the design elements of the original image, as well as to not restrict its diffusion or free utilization by any other person, in any way.

Any change of the logo design or its colors must be authorized by the copyright holder, prior to its reproduction.

You can use the logo. Carlos writes:
The copyright of this logo belongs to me as the creator of the design; however with the only publication of this article I expressly authorize any person to utilize them, free of any charge, for promoting the principles or the practice of "Catch and Release".

So feel free to go ahead. Remember that you can download the logo in high rez though the links in the article.

a great job! but i think much more better if u try this : FISH, PHOTO & RELEASE
its a it's a different between catching & fishing ha...
remember... some people said "THATS WHY IT'S CALLED FISHIN - NOT CATCHIN!"

Miguel,
I thought a lot about that, and finally I decide to write the word "libere" instead of "suelte" in the spanish version. I like it most because the whole action of releasing a fish speaks about an act of freedom: The fisherman is free to decide to let the fish live, and the fish is free again to live, feed and spawn. On the other hand, the logo is being part of some conservation campaigns on places where "catch and release" is absolutely unknown, like local communities near some rivers of the Amazon basin or some places at the pacific coast of South America, directed to people who are learning about that principle for the first time, and a sticker of the logo on a boat talking about freedom could make them forget that they are, in some way, "throwing their lunch to the water" (For some people of the third world, fishing is still a valid way to get all the protein they eat, no matter if they are killing the last fish of the river...)

Catch and Release should be considered more with game fishing. Its anoys me when i am fishing and i see anglers knock fish after fish on the head, there is no need, its just greed.
Catch and Release fishing is a lot like a game of golf. You don't have to eat the ball to have a good time

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